What Does it Mean to Receive the Holy Spirit Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What Does it Mean to Receive the Holy Spirit Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 19:1-7

That’s the danger you have to watch for your children and your grandchildren is that they don’t just intellectually acknowledge, but that they truly believe in Christ. And upon that belief, how is that affirmed that their faith is real?

They will experience the Holy Spirit in their mind. Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders from The Open Door Church and thank you for being a part of our radio broadcast. And today we’re going to be in Acts chapter 19 and we’re going to be talking about what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit.

Now that’s an interesting question. There’s a lot of debate about that, but I want us to look into the scriptures and find that true answer. So let’s start studying together. I started out before we read the scriptures and said that there are many denominations and even Christians of the faith that disagree about this passage.

And mainly because they don’t study the context of it. And I’m not here to say that I’m always right and everybody else is always wrong. I’m just trying to help you understand that it’s easy to take the Bible out of context and it’s easy to make it say something that it does not say.

So there are those within the family of God. I’m not saying they’re not Christians, but they would believe that you get a second blessing. That there is a second baptism of the Spirit and they would use this passage to make that claim and they would say you not only need to get saved, but you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And for those who are spiritually mature, and of course I’m speaking third person here, but those that are spiritually mature, they are the ones that have fully surrendered their lives and they experience another blessing and another baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit. My aim today is to help you as a follower of Christ to understand the role of the Holy Spirit and to help you understand what does this text say in relation to receiving the Holy Spirit into our life.

Let’s start off to first answer the question, who is the Holy Spirit? Because even amongst us, there are new believers and there are people that maybe have not really took time to study the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

What I want you to know is that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an it, a thing, or even some kind of a movement, but the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. When we talk about the Trinity, we talk about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches us that they are three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. But yet they are one, many get confused about that and it messes them up spiritually. I want you to know first of all that great scholars have been confounded by this incredible truth, that God is three but one.

But I want to help give clarity to you so that you can see what it means. And this is foundational to your understanding about answering the question, what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? When we say that God is three and one, we are saying this, three distinct persons, but they are one in their purpose, meaning the Father is not one that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And the Son is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And the Spirit is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. They are one in purpose.

They are one in essence. The Father is holy and so is the Son and so is the Spirit. They are not only one when the Bible says God is love, one in purpose, one in essence, but one in nature. So when we say that God is omnipresent or God is love or God is powerful, we are saying that the Father is powerful, the Son is powerful, and the Spirit is powerful.

We are saying that the Father is love and the Son is love and the Spirit is love. We are saying that the Father is everywhere. Omnipresent and the Son is omnipresent and the Spirit is omnipresent. They are three distinct persons, but one in purpose, one in essence, and one in nature.

The Bible tells us about the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2.11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Who can… You can really know what’s in your heart, what you’re thinking about, and what are the things that you’re trying to process, even as you sit in this auditorium.

Only your spirit within you knows, and Paul uses this analogy, and he says, even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Sometimes we have stereotypes when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

We make the Spirit to be something mystical or magical, and sometimes we get scared, and we retreat from the study of the Spirit, or we’re afraid that we might go beyond the boundaries of what the Scriptures teach about the Spirit, and so we just kind of really are not very informed about the Spirit.

But remember this. All of God’s work in each and every one of us, all of God’s work through us is done by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When the apostle prayed for the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 3 16, he said this prayer to them that he referring to God the father would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might or power through his what church?

You see what I’m saying? Every work in you, every work through you is through the ministry of the spirit. It’s exactly what the apostle prayed when he said to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man.

What a great prayer to pray for your children. What a great prayer to pray for your grandchildren. What a great prayer to pray for your spouse. Right there to pray that prayer. Now what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?

We read this text and the mistake that many Christians make and even denominations make is that they want to duplicate everything in the book of Acts. They want to once again make the book of Acts live again through the church.

And so they want to once again go through all that happened in the book of Acts and try to reduplicate that in the life of the church and the life of the believers. This is where you’re making your mistake.

What we are reading here in chapter 19, and I’ll show you even more later, but you are reading a passage of scripture that is often referred to as a transitional passage of scripture from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

And I will help you to understand that our goal here is not that we would repeat. Our goal is that we would learn the principles and that we would apply them to our faith today. So keep that in mind as we’re learning.

What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? If you’d like to keep, Number one, the believer receives the spirit experientially. We receive as believers the spirit of God experientially. It is something that is tangible.

It is something that we experience in our life. The question that is asked by the apostle in verse two of chapter nine implies to us that the Holy Spirit is for all believers. Now to help you get that, I want you to see what Jesus said about this same truth.

So take your Bible and go to John chapter seven. In John chapter seven, Jesus is giving insight on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I want you to go there this morning, church. I’d like you to see it.

The Bible says in verse 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and he cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me. as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now, again, people have to understand the Bible. You know, people get mad and they say, pastor, do you take the Bible literally? There are parts I take literally. There’s part I take metaphorically. Jesus said, I’m a door.

It doesn’t mean he was a literal door. He just meant he’s the entryway to heaven. So please understand that. I’m not a liberal, but we’re talking about the scriptures here. And Jesus said that you believe on him, and you out of your heart will have rivers flowing out.

Rivers of living water. He did not mean literal water, but what he is talking about metaphorically is about the power of the spirit being in your heart, and you experientially sensing and knowing the spirit of God.

Look at verse 39. But this he spoke concerning who? Talking about the Holy Spirit. Whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon prophets, and the Spirit came upon believers, and the Spirit came upon them at different times, but the Spirit did not dwell in them. The Spirit of God did not live in believers.

That’s why John says to us that when Jesus was teaching the people, he was letting them know what is to come, that the Spirit of God would come upon them upon their belief, and that it would be an experience like rivers flowing in their heart.

Living water. Not yet, because Christ had not been glorified. What I want you to know this morning, experientially, if you are a true believer in Jesus, then all Christians who receive Christ as their Savior, they receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of their salvation.

And that is not something that is mysterious. It’s not something that you don’t experience, but it is real in your life. There are people who have intellectually acknowledged the gospel. There are even people who intellectually believe the gospel.

And James told us that even the demons believe they’re not going to have it. No, that’s the danger you have to watch for your children and your grandchildren is that they don’t just intellectually acknowledge, but that they truly believe in Christ.

And upon that belief, how is that affirmed that their faith is real? They will experience the Holy Spirit in their life. Yeah, I’m gonna help you with that. But here’s what 1 Corinthians 6, 19 says, the apostle said to the Corinthians, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own?

You’ve been told by the world it’s about you. People have been clapping hands and appreciating you and telling you how wonderful you are ever since you were three years old. You showed up to a soccer game and their grandparents went hysterical.

They thought, we gotta give them candy, we gotta give them trophies. Man, you just showed up. And so you’ve been under this conception that, hey, I’m wonderful, I’m amazing, and I’m the greatest thing since peanut butter.

And you say, what’s sliced bread, Mike? But for me, it’s peanut butter, okay? That’s just the way it works. The truth is you’re not your own. It’s not about you, it’s about God, and it’s about Christ, and it’s about that you belong to him.

And that is authenticated by the stamp of the seal of the Spirit of God upon your life. You take time later, but you read Ephesians chapter one and Ephesians chapter two. If you and I were to receive a letter from a political figure, from a government’s office, the stamp, the seal, will be upon it to authenticate that this is a real letter.

There’s a lot of fraud out there, amen? There’s a lot of fake out there right now, and there’s a lot of people trying to hack into your finances, hack into your bank accounts, and use your credit cards, and they’re using all this fake information.

They’re texting you, and they’re emailing you. You need to make sure that they are real, and how do you know through the seal of their authentication? How do we know a fake Christian from a real Christian?

That is the authentication of the stamp of the seal of the Holy Spirit on your life. Now, after the Bible says that Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in… tongues and prophesied.

Now we see that again this is a transition. You say then do I need to speak in tongues pastor? Do I need to prophesy? No. In this particular instance that’s what happened. They spoke in tongues, meaning that they had spoken in a language which was not theirs and yet it was understood by others.

It is not again a mystical language. It is not even a heavenly language. It’s not even jibber-jabbish, but it was a real language. But it’s the same thing that happened in Acts chapter 2. Remember in Acts chapter 2 the day of Pentecost?

Remember that the Spirit fell upon the people? Remember that Peter preached? Remember that thousands came to Christ they believed and the Spirit of God fell upon them and the Bible says that they… spoke in tongues.

Remember, we’re not trying to repeat that. Why? Because we’ll explain later, but the point being is there was a experience. There was something that was tangible that for the first time in the life of a believer, the Spirit of God was now living inside of them.

In a transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament in Acts chapter 2, the fulfillment of the prophecies that were given in the book of Joel. Not that it has to be repeated over and over and over all throughout church history, but in this moment as the New Testament, the New Covenant is instituted by our Savior and it is fulfilled in the apostles and the church is established and the New Testament is launched,

this New Covenant would be verified, authenticated by the Spirit filling the believers and they would speak in tongue and they would prophesy. That’s what took in Acts chapter 2 and that was Jewish believers from all over the known world coming to celebrate the Passover and coming to celebrate the Pentecost and they experienced this and this is what the Jews saw for the first time and it was designed to let them know that what Joel said has now come to fruition,

but not only do we see it in Acts chapter 2, but we see it in Acts chapter 8 verse 14 through 17. The gospel has now gone out to the Samaritans, not just the Jews. Remember that God in chapter 4, chapter 5, he allowed persecution to take place to push out the people of God, to push them out of Jerusalem because the Great Commission was that they would go only to Jerusalem, but they would go to Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world,

but they’re just like you and me. We get comfortable, right? We don’t want God relocating us. We get comfortable. We love you. like it, but God, He allowed persecution, pushed them out. Now the gospel is going to the Samaritans in chapter eight.

Guess what? In chapter eight, we see once the Samaritans believe the Spirit of God, they receive the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues and they prophesied an experience to let them know that they are part of the family of God because the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans and thought that they were less than humans and how is it that God would say to the Jewish people that the gospel is not just for you,

but it’s for everyone on the planet. How is it that God would authenticate this and verify this through the receiving of the Spirit that authenticated it through an experience of tongues and prophecy.

You think I’m done, I’m not. Now we get over to Acts chapter 10. Remember, the filling of the Spirit has happened in chapter 2 to the Jews. Chapter 8, it’s to the Samaritans. And now chapter 10, verse 44 through 46, it is the Gentiles.

And guess what happens? Peter preaches the gospel. They believe in Christ. They have the same experience that the Jews had in chapter 2 and that the Samaritans had in chapter 8. And now in chapter 10, they’re experiencing the receiving of the Spirit, which was not only promised by Christ, and it was promised by the prophets in the Old Testament.

And look at verse 45 of Acts chapter 10. They’ll throw it on the screen. But I want you to see this. I want you to see it in context. The Bible says, all the Jewish believer, that means those who would believe back in Acts chapter 2, who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had also poured out on the Gentiles.

Today, you and I as believers say, what’s the big deal? But to the Jews, they were of the mindset that they were the only ones. They were the chosen ones of God. And therefore, they’re the only ones that have salvation.

They’re the only ones that have the gospel. They’re the only ones that have the Spirit of God living in them. And so when they saw Peter, remember Peter had that vision in Acts chapter 10, and he was told by God that whatever God is blessed, not to call it unclaimed.

This is going to be a tough one for some of you. There’s not only no unclean food. How about that? But there are no unclean people. To the Jews, Samaritans were unclean. To the Jews, Gentiles were unclean.

To them, they could never believe that the Spirit would ever feel any other nationality or any other people but them. You think you’re done, but you’re not. Now we come to chapter 19. Remember, I told you, Acts is a transitional book.

Chapter 2, chapter 8, chapter 10, chapter 19. Paul is pushing the gospel farther out, taking it to the regions beyond. He’s left Corinth. He’s now in this third missionary journey. He is in Ephesus. He’s gonna spend three years not only planting this church, but establishing this church.

And when he gets there, he finds people who believe in the baptism of John, but they have never received the Spirit. And the Bible says they didn’t even know the Spirit. They never even heard of the Holy Spirit.

So what does he do? He walks them through the Old Testament. He walks them through the prophecies of Joel. He walks them through the promises of God and that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment and that they need to understand all that John preached was to point people to Jesus because John must decrease and Christ must increase.

And we’re called to believe in Jesus Christ. And when they believed in Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches us. Look at verse six, that when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Wow, what is going on? What you are seeing here in all these chapters that I just gave and probably so much more than you wanted on a Sunday morning. But this is the extension of the Pentecost experience to another nationality, to another group of people.

The Book of Acts is a transition from the Old to the New Testament. What you are seeing here, that as the gospel goes out, that the apostle, he does this in chapter eight, he does this in chapter 10 with Peter, but they lay hands on the people, why?

Because the authority of the apostles, because of the unity of the church, that you also, because you have been authenticated, that your faith is real through the manifestation of the spirit, you also, by my laying on a hand, and for all to see and all to read and all to hear, that you also are a part of the family of God.

Because in Judaism, there was the separation of people. In Judaism, there was the belief that their nationality was superior to other nationalities. And the apostles, by tangibly and by symbolically and physically laying their hands upon these Gentiles, these Samaritans, they are communicating to the worldwide church.

That these believers are truly the children of God. The believer receives the spirit experientially. When Paul was teaching the Corinthians, he said to them in first Corinthians chapter two, verse four and five, that my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive word of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

a desperate need in the life of the believer, in the life of the church, for the manifestation of the power of the Spirit. Paul again taught the Corinthians in chapter 4, 1 Corinthians, that the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the church experiences the power and the presence of God in their life. If believers have the Holy Spirit, they know it. You say, how do you know that pastor?

Because I’m shaking some of you right now. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 15, and the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. The Spirit is received experientially. When you came to Christ, if you were sincere, there was something different in you.

And you experienced the power of the Spirit. Now, how do we do that today? Does that mean I got to speak in tongues, pastor? I would say no. I would say tongues was a sign and prophesying was a sign.

It was all done for a certain period of time to let people know the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Now that the word of God is complete, the tongues and the prophesying has ceased.

It is complete, it is fulfilled, and now the church has God’s word and the power of the Spirit lives in us. So I’m gonna close with these three things. How do you know that you received the Spirit? Because I wanna tell you something.

If you have not received the Spirit, you’re not a born again believer. That’s how important this is. Number one, you will experience conviction for your sin. You remember that time you came to Christ, and you remember that all of a sudden you were convicted about sin in your life.

Bad attitudes that you had. You were convicted about behaviors. You were convicted about cheating and taking advantage of people. It is the manifestation of the Spirit of God in your life. Number two, change.

Not only does the Spirit manifest itself in conviction, but in change. How do I know that the Spirit of God lives in me? Little by little, the old passes away and the new becomes true in your heart. The apostle said old things will pass away and behold, all things will become you.

You know why some people are bored in worship service? It’s because the Spirit of God doesn’t live in you and old things have not passed away and behold, all things are not new to you. And I know that you don’t like me saying that, but I’m telling you it’s the truth.

I wanna tell you something. I never had to be begged to go to church since the moment I came. to Christ. You know why? It was so awesome to me. I was amazed. Everything was so new. I was so touched by the Spirit of God.

I couldn’t wait to get back to church. Nobody had to send me a card. Nobody had to pick up the phone and say, come to church. You know why? Because the Spirit of God was driving every day. I was passionate.

I was pursuing God because the Spirit of God was in me. All things were new. I couldn’t get enough of this Bible. I couldn’t get enough of the Word of God. I was calling my pastor 24-7. What in the world’s that mean?

And buddy, I was driving it home. Change. Little by little, Mike began to change so much. My family said, you’re weird. What’s wrong with you? But the next thing you know, I’m out there knocking on doors because my pastor told me to.

And I was kicking on doors, knocking on doors, telling people how to get saved. How does that happen? How does that transformation take place? the spirit of God was in me. And I wanted everybody to know, I didn’t want anybody to go to hell.

I wanted everybody to go to heaven. And I was gonna tell everybody I could how to get to heaven. I sent a tract to every family member with a letter telling them to get saved. They called my mother and said, I think Mike’s in a cult.

I was a flaming fire, torching everybody with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I’m just letting you know, how does God change a person through the power of the spirit? He changes me through conviction.

Last one, and this will be the best one. How do I know the spirit lives in me? Hear me? He comforts me. When I’m hurting, when I’m struggling. Christians say to me all the time, don’t know how people do this and go through this without Christ.

Because Christ comforts us, His spirit comforts us when we’re struggling, when we’re going through the challenges of life, when we’re dealing with the problems and the tragedies and the setbacks in life.

It’s the spirit of God that God uses. When I don’t even know what to pray. When my heart hurts so much, I can’t even articulate to God what I wanna say. The Bible says that the spirit knows my heart, takes my feelings and thoughts and takes them to the throne of God and lays it all out on my behalf.

Some of you have hurt so much and cried so much and mourn so much and grieve so much, you don’t even know what to think. It’s okay. Because the spirit is comforting you, the spirit is speaking for you and the spirit is sustaining even in your grief and you’re hurt.

That’s how you know that you have received the Holy Spirit in your life. Now the Holy Spirit is a foretaste of heaven. So the Holy Spirit living in you, there are many times that you have a great sense of the fullness of the Spirit and the leadership of the spirits in your life.

And I want you to know that God has given you just a little taste of what heaven’s gonna be like when he does that. And so we’re super excited about being able to know what it really means to receive the Holy Spirit.

And I hope that as we dive into this in Acts chapter 19, that we’re bringing a lot of clarity to this subject. Cause I know there’s a lot of debate and division over it, but I think the scriptures are very clear.

Now I want to encourage you to check out our YouTube channel. Hope worth having. And on that channel, you can stream live with us. You can catch up with what we’re teaching. In addition, there’s interviews and different studies all about just sharing the word of God.

So check us out at Hope Worth Having for YouTube. And this is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.